List of US states that are supporting hemp

A quick overview of states' activity re hemp legislation is useful at this time. Most states have cultivated hemp at some time, so there is a record for many to go forward with this initiative; however, there are many states to go.
And then of course there is federal approval needed, which Mina Hegaard is working on with her
petition at www.minawear.com/about-us/ 
Please sign, and if your state is not already looking into hemp, please get in touch with us here and we would love to help out!

So far,  31 states have introduced pro-hemp legislation and 19 have passed pro-hemp legislation.

Eight states (Colorado, Maine, Montana, North Dakota, Oregon, Vermont,Washington, and West Virginia) have defined industrial hemp as distinct and removed barriers to its production.

Three states (Hawaii, Kentucky, and Maryland) have passed bills creating commissions or authorizing research.

Nine states have passed hemp resolutions: California, Colorado, Illinois, Montana,New Hampshire, New Mexico, North Dakota, Vermont and Virginia.

Eight states have passed hemp study bills: Arkansas, Illinois, Maine, Minnesota, New Mexico, North Carolina, North Dakota, and Vermont. Many other states have done studies without legislative directive.

Hemp movement news from Washington State: House Bill 1888

It is always welcome news when I can post an a new state taking on the hemp issue. So far Kentucky, Colorado, California, Oregon, Vermont, Pennsylvania, Virginia, North Dakota, South Dakota and North Carolina have all got some news items on this blog. Washington joins the frey, and I am hoping to start a New York initiative here, hopefully reps Jerrold Nadler who co-sponsored Ron Paul's bill and Carolyn Maloney

(NY's 8th and 12th districts) will support this. All 50 states could benefit, so let's see 40 more posts of this genre - and of course let's get lots more signatures on the petition to the White House at www.minawear.com/about-us/

 

 

 

 

OLYMPIA, Wash. (AP) — A legislative committee has approved a bill that would allow Washington farmers to grow industrial hemp.

Washington officials are in the process of establishing a system to legalize the production and sale of marijuana for recreational use, following passage of Initiative 502 last fall. But that initiative didn't cover the production of hemp or hemp products.

House Bill 1888 would permit development of an industrial hemp industry in Washington. A House committee approved the bill Thursday, sending it to the full House for a vote.

Nine other states have passed laws allowing hemp production, but none grows hemp as a crop. The federal government still bans the plant.

Read more: http://www.seattlepi.com/news/article/Legislative-committee-approves-hemp-bill-4298715.php#ixzz2LaSgdjOo

New York Times article on hemp

The New York Times yesterday (p. A16) published an article on hemp in Kentucky, after Senator Mitch McConnell joined Senator Rand Paul in his support of hemp, and after a meeting on 11 February in which the issue was debated. Kentuckians are most supportive of this, see the plethora of previous posts for the current and past history. Below, Trip Gabriel reports on the issue as follows:

Hemp Growing Finds Allies of a New Stripe in Kentucky

The Courier-Journal, via Associated Press

In the summer of 1952, hemp plants growing wild in a lot in downtown Louisville, Ky., were killed with chemical spray.

 

FRANKFORT, Ky. — In 1996 the actor Woody Harrelson, who has a sideline as an activist for legalizing marijuana, was arrested in Kentucky for planting four hemp seeds.       

 

 

James Crisp/Associated Press

Senator Rand Paul supports legalizing the growing of hemp in the United States.

 

John Sommers II/Reuters

Woody Harrelson in 1996.

Last month Senator Mitch McConnell, the Republican minority leader, announced his support for growing hemp in Kentucky, his home state.

Between those jarringly disparate events lies the evolution of hemp from a countercultural cause to an issue championed by farmers in the heartland and conservative lawmakers.

On Monday, a panel of the Republican-controlled Kentucky State Senate unanimously approved a bill to license hemp growers. It was promoted by the state agriculture commissioner and three members of the state’s Congressional delegation, including Senator Rand Paul, who removed his jacket to testify in a white shirt that he announced was made of hemp fibers.

If the bill is approved by the full Legislature, Kentucky will join eight other states that have adopted laws to allow commercial hemp growing, although the practice is effectively blocked by federal law that makes no distinction between hemp and marijuana.

Mr. Paul, a Republican, said he would seek a waiver from the Obama administration for Kentucky hemp growers, while pressing Congress to delist hemp as a controlled substance, which hemp supporters say is a legacy of antidrug hysteria.

Both plants are the same species, Cannabis sativa, but hemp has only a trace of the psychoactive ingredient in marijuana. Hemp’s champions see it as a source of agricultural jobs, an alternative for struggling tobacco farmers and a wonder plant with uses from bluejeans to building materials.

Attitudes are changing in surprising places. At a hearing on Monday in Frankfort, the Kentucky capital, the state police commissioner’s opposition to hemp growing was challenged by a former C.I.A. director, R. James Woolsey.

“The specter of people getting high on industrial hemp,” Mr. Woolsey said, “is pretty much exactly like saying you can get drunk on O’Doul’s.”

Hemp supporters say it is only a matter of time before legalization comes as people more fully understand the plant. They also point to states where voters legalized recreational marijuana in November — Colorado and Washington — as inevitably forcing a change in priorities in the Obama administration.

“The demonology of hemp is exposed as being not valid,” said Representative John Yarmuth, Democrat of Kentucky, a sponsor of a bill in the House to allow hemp cultivation. He said the movement to accept hemp has the same inevitability that he attributed to acceptance of same-sex marriage.

Still, the federal government has been unyielding. Farmers in states that allow hemp must seek a waiver from the Drug Enforcement Administration or risk being raided by federal agents and losing their farms.

Dave Monson, a North Dakota wheat farmer and Republican state representative, has held a state hemp license since 2007, when North Dakota legalized cultivation. But he has no plans to plant. “I applied for a D.E.A. license, never got one,” he said.

A spokesman for the drug agency said it did not keep statistics on permits to grow hemp, which it does not distinguish from marijuana under the Controlled Substance Act of 1970.

Mr. Monson knows farmers just north of the Canadian border who profitably grow hemp, and he argues that it can be an economic boon. “The more states that do what we have done in North Dakota, if we can keep the pressure on, I think we’re going to see some movement at the federal level,” he said.

Hemp supporters claim a total retail value of products containing hemp at more than $400 million in the United States. But a Congressional Research Service report last year found that imported hemp raw materials was small, only $11.5 million. All hemp used in United States today — such as in Dr. Bronner’s Magic Soaps sold at Whole Foods — is imported, mostly from China.

Rodney Brewer, the commissioner of the Kentucky State Police, said that if hemp farming were legal, marijuana growers would hide their plants in hemp fields and the police could not tell them apart.

“They are identical in appearance when it comes to the naked eye,” Mr. Brewer said, predicting that legalizing hemp would create a boom for pot growers.

But Mr. Woolsey, who said he favored hemp because of “my interest in prosperity for rural America,” argued that no pot farmer would hide plants in a hemp field for fear that low-potency hemp would cross-pollinate with marijuana and lower the concentration of THC, its psychoactive ingredient.

Marijuana growers “hate the idea of having industrial hemp anywhere near,” he said.

The Kentucky bill faces resistance from some lawmakers, including the speaker of the State House.

Mr. Paul, after calling attention to his hemp shirt at the hearing in Frankfort, seemed to roll his eyes when he said, “You’d think you’re at a D.E.A. hearing.”

“This is a hearing about a crop,” he said. “It’s a crop that’s legal everywhere else in the world except the United States.”

Mr. Paul, elected in 2010 with Tea Party support, promised to introduce a Senate bill as a companion to the pro-hemp bill in the House, which has 28 co-sponsors. He is following in the family footsteps, since the first House bill allowing hemp was introduced several years ago by his father, Ron Paul, a former Texas congressman and Republican presidential candidate. Ron Paul’s embrace of the issue fit his deep libertarian streak, which also at times embraced legalizing marijuana and other drugs.

Those positions placed hemp far outside the mainstream in many lawmakers’ minds, just as the image of its products — soaps, sandals and natural foods sold at co-ops — placed it in a counterculture.

But no better sign exists that hemp’s image is changing than its embrace by Mr. McConnell, the minority leader, who said in a statement last month that his mind had been changed “after long discussions” with Rand Paul and the Kentucky agriculture commissioner, James Comer, a Republican.

“The utilization of hemp to produce everything from clothing to paper is real,” Mr. McConnell said.

Bloomberg News on Hemp for the US

The news of Mitch McConnell's backing of hemp has also hit Bloomberg, expect it in the NYT soon! Below is the article by Margaret Newkirk:

 

Cannabis Farming Has Kentucky Republicans Seeing Economic Boost

By Margaret Newkirk

 

Roger Alford/AP Photo

Kentucky State Police and Kentucky National Guard troops wade through acres of dense Chinese silvergrass as they search for marijuana plants near Barbourville, Kentucky.

Kentucky Republicans and business leaders are promoting an unlikely way to boost the state’s economic development: Grow cannabis.
Kentucky leaders want their state to become the king of hemp, a plant that comes from the same species as marijuana, though doesn’t contain enough of the intoxicating ingredient to cause a high.
They want to help state farmers overcome the federal government’s treatment of hemp as an illegal drug, and produce it on an industrial scale, for use in items such as soap, horse bedding, building materials and auto body parts. Kentucky is one of at least five states, including Indiana and Vermont, where lawmakers have introduced measures allowing hemp farming.
The Kentucky effort is supported by legislative leaders, the state chamber of commerce, Republican U.S. Senator Rand Paul and agricultural commissioner James Comer, a Republican who campaigned on bringing the crop to his state.
“It could produce thousands of jobs,” Comer said in an interview.“Industrial hemp is totally different than marijuana. It should be treated like corn or soybeans.”
U.S. retail sales of products with imported hemp were more than $452 million in 2011, according to an estimate by the Hemp Industries Association, based in Summerland, California.
All One God Faith Inc., a closely held company in Escondido, California, that markets Dr. Bronner’s soaps, is considering expanding to Kentucky if hemp is grown there, said David Bronner, the company’s chief executive officer. The soaps contain hemp.

Passing Laws

Since 1996, at least eight states have passed laws removing legal barriers to hemp farming, according to a report last year by the Congressional Research Service in Washington. Colorado voters in November signed off on hemp farming.
Even in those states, anyone who wants to grow hemp needs a permit from the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, said Dawn Dearden, an agency spokeswoman. Dearden said she didn’t know when the agency, which doesn’t distinguish between hemp and marijuana, last issued a permit and referred a question on the matter to the Justice Department. A telephone message left with the department’s press office wasn’t immediately returned.
The hemp association is aware of only one DEA permit issued, for a now-ended research project in Hawaii, said Eric Steenstra, the group’s executive director.

Importing Hemp

U.S. businesses import hemp, usually from Canada and China. The plant is also grown in Europe, and is approaching harvest now in the Southern hemisphere.
Hemp has been a source of oilseed and fiber for centuries, according to the congressional report. It was grown in the U.S. from the colonial period until the mid-1800s, when cotton became more competitive as a clothing fabric. More than 30 countries grow hemp as an agricultural commodity.
The Kentucky State Police oppose growing hemp, saying fields could be used to hide marijuana and that pot growers will claim their plants are hemp, requiring state police to prove otherwise in overburdened state labs.
“It would be a nightmare,” said Trooper Michael Webb, a police spokesman. “You can’t look at the plants and tell the difference between the two.”
Kentucky Governor Steve Beshear, a Democrat, has said law enforcement concerns must be satisfied before he would support allowing hemp.

Cannabis Plant

The cannabis plants used for hemp typically look different from those cultivated for marijuana. Hemp grows taller and in a single main stalk with few leaves. Marijuana usually is bushy with leaves and branches to promote flowers and buds, according to the research service report.
The chemistry of the plants is more distinct. Marijuana typically contains about 10 percent tetrahydrocannabinol, or THC, which gives users a high, compared to less than 1 percent THC in hemp, according to the congressional service report.
A smoker would need a hemp joint the size of a telephone pole to get high, said Michael Bowman, a wheat farmer in Colorado. Bowman, 53, said he plans to plant hemp on 100 acres in April -- without a permit. He said he doesn’t anticipate being prosecuted.
The law restricting hemp farming is the 1970 Controlled Substances Act. Those who raise hemp without a DEA permit risk as much as 20 years in prison and forfeiture of their property, according to federal guidelines.

Permit Application

An application for a DEA hemp permit is identical to asking for permission to grow pot.
Representative David Monson, a Republican in the North Dakota House and a wheat farmer, is among those who have unsuccessfully sought permission.
In 1999, Monson watched hemp growing across the Canada border, at a time when a disease was ruining wheat and barley. Rotating those crops with fast-growing, disease-resistant hemp was a way to fight the blight, Monson said in an interview.
North Dakota created a hemp farm licensing program. Two farmers applied, including Monson. Both got state permits and applied unsuccessfully to the DEA. The application process included a criminal background check and a questionnaire that asked questions like “Where are you going to sell this drug?” and “Will you have a 12-foot high chain link fence with guards and razor wire?”
Monson said he planted no hemp.
“I wasn’t going to do it without a permit,” he said. “They could threaten to take my farm.”
Comer and Bronner said that as more states approve hemp production, the DEA may be forced to change its approach.
“It’s becoming increasingly ridiculous that the non-drug form of cannabis is still caught up in this prohibition,” said Bronner, 39, in an interview.

Patriot BioEnergy looking for hemp to be legal in the US

A story in  biomassmagazine.com titled "Company eyes hemp as feedstock for biofuel, power generation" by Holly Jessen spells out the need for this crop in the US. Not only does it create jobs in production, but it gives energy diversity - an issue that became very real after Hurricane Sandy here in New York when the vast majority of people, dependent on petroleum powered electricity, were affected, some out of power for weeks.

If fields of hemp like the one above were cultivated in the US, it would bring prosperity and stability. Do the politicians care enough to see that? And do we care enough to lobby them to do their jobs? That is the question, and the answer is the petition at www.minawear/com/about-us/

Go there and make your voice heard, and then we can have fields of hemp like this again. Read below for insight into the hemp biofuel issue, it is one of many applications of hemp:

An alternative energy company looking to build multiple energy beet-to-biofuel plants in Kentucky recently became the first corporation to join the Kentucky Hemp Growers Cooperative Association. Although federal rules currently prohibit the growth of hemp in the U.S., Patriot Bioenergy Corp. sees value in industrial hemp for biomass blending with bituminous coal for power generation as well as a possible cellulosic feedstock for biofuels.Patriot Bioenergy plans to first build a 4 MMgy energy beet and waste sugar biofuel plant in Williamsburg, Ky., followed by a 4 MMgy plant in Columbia, Ky., and a 2 MMgy facility in Pikeville, Ky. The company is considering ethanol or possibly butanol production, CEO Roger Ford told Ethanol Producer Magazine.On Dec. 10 the company announced it would undertake a preliminary research study on blending hemp pellets with coal. The company would also explore the possibility of growing the plant on post-mining reclamation and marginal land in Kentucky. The goal is to complete laboratory testing and issue a report by February 2013. "While Patriot is an alternative energy company, part of our goal is to create synergies with coal, natural gas, and bioamss to increase competitiveness and more opportunities in an increasingly challenging market,” Ford said. “In addition, the potential for farm-based power generation, through gasification of used horse bedding, is also a potential facet to be explored, which will reduce a waste disposal issues for the horse industry.”

Hemp has been classified incorrectly as a narcotic, Ford said, adding that it has no value as a drug. Industrial hemp has low levels of tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), the active ingredient in marijuana. Kentucky has a long history of growing hemp, particularly during WWII, and Ford would like to see Kentucky and Patriot Bioenergy became modern leaders in growing the crop.

The company’s interest in hemp is multifaceted, as the plant can be used to create multiple products, ranging from biodiesel from hemp seed oil to clothing or rope from the fibers. The vision is that hemp could help the company generate revenue from multiple sources as part of its energy park concept. Hemp has a high yield per acre, meaning it can produce large amounts of biomass on a smaller footprint. “That’s the most attractive thing about this,” Ford said.

Although a few states, such as North Dakota, have registered farmers to grow industrial hemp, the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration could still hold U.S. farmers criminally liable under the Controlled Substance Act. Equipment or land used to grow hemp could be seized under civil forfeiture laws, said Tom Murphy, national outreach coordinator for Vote Hemp, a nonprofit organization working toward acceptance of low THC oilseed and fiber varieties of cannabis.

In a few states, such as North Dakota, farmers are registered to grow hemp, but federal hurdles remain and tractors or land used to grow hemp could be seized under civil forfeiture. “Nobody is willing to literally bet the farm to find out [what would happen if they planted hemp,]” Murphy told EPM. In 2011, bills were introduced in the U.S. House and Senate, in an effort to legalize the growth of hemp, but were ultimately unsuccessful. Efforts to reintroduce similar bills in 2013 are ongoing.

In other news, Patriot Bioenergy is planning to establish a nonprofit energy/sugar beet growers cooperative in the Cumberland Valley Area Development District region of Kentucky. The beets are Roundup Ready and are part of trials being conducted with Betaseed Corp. The company wants to see farmers immediately begin producing the beets, which can be utilized as a livestock feed supplement for local cattle ranchers and, eventually, as a feedstock for the proposed biofuel plants. "Our hope is that we can bring farmers to the table, show them the viability of the crop, and lay the groundwork for future growth," said Terry Saylor, director of agriculture operations for Patriot Bioenergy.

RON PAUL TALKS TO VOTERS IN DAKOTA ABOUT HEMP
February 20, 2012

TOM STROMME/Tribune

Republican presidential candidate Ron Paul addressed a crowd of about 1,200 people in Bismarck on Monday evening with a speech on liberty and the role of government, prior to the Bismarck Republicans' district nominating conventions.
"It sounds like there's a lot of friends of liberty in North Dakota," Paul said as he took the stage, greeted by a standing ovation from the crowd inside the Shiloh Christian School gymnasium.
Paul's message was of reducing the size of government and spending, saying he believes the country needs to return to its roots and defend the liberties as they're laid out in the Constitution.
"When government grows, liberty diminishes," he said.
Paul said the country needs to cut spending across the board, including military spending, to rein in a ballooning national debt that he said is the fault of leadership of both political parties. He drew a thunderous round of applause by promising a reduction in spending of $1 trillion in the first year of a Paul administration.
"We need to change the philosophy of government to change the spending of government," Paul said.
He said entitlement programs need to be re-evaluated as well.
Paul said enforcement of private property rights would be sufficient to protect citizens against pollution, rather than relying on the federal Environmental Protection Agency.
"The more socialized a system is, the worse the property is, and the worse the environment is," Paul said. "We should never be bashful about saying we believe in property rights ... and we don't have to give one inch and say that we're careless with the environment, because you don't have a right to pollute your neighbor's property."
Following his speech, Paul spent time making his way from the gymnasium to the exit, passing through an enthusiastic crowd of supporters.
"I'm always amazed, but pleased, to see the enthusiasm," Paul said.
He said his grassroots campaign and message of reducing spending, size of government and promoting liberty is resonating with North Dakotans. Paul said he feels earning the support of voters and delegates in caucus states such as North Dakota is a key to victory during the Republican nomination process and in November. The North Dakota Republican Party caucus is on March 6.
"I doubt that you'll see all the candidates spending the amount of time time here as I have," Paul said.
Paul was in Jamestown on Monday afternoon before traveling to Bismarck. He also made stops in Williston and Dickinson on Sunday.
In Jamestown, Paul was critical of the federal government's ban on the cultivation of industrial hemp, a crop that is related to marijuana but does not have its mind-affecting properties.
Industrial hemp is grown in neighboring Canada and other countries, where it is used to make paper, lotions, clothing and biofuels.
North Dakota's Legislature and Agriculture Department have pushed allowing hemp to be grown in the state. A state lawmaker who wanted to cultivate the crop filed an unsuccessful lawsuit against the Drug Enforcement Administration, seeking a declaration that doing so would be legal.
"There is no reason, in a free society, that farmers shouldn't be allowed to raise hemp," Paul said during a Jamestown appearance that drew about 300 people. "Hemp is a good product."
Duane Sattler, of Richardton, was one of the sign-carrying Paul supporters who attended his Bismarck speech. His son, 13-year-old Shawn Sattler, sat nearby, waving an American flag.
"He's been standing alone a lot of times," Sattler said of Paul. "He votes for our personal freedoms, for sound money and for less government and less taxes."
He became a Paul supporter during Paul's presidential run in 2008, Sattler said. "I really went and did some research, and the deeper I dug, the more I liked the man," he said. "With the other candidates, the deeper I dug, the less I liked them."
In North Dakota's Republican presidential caucuses in 2008, Paul finished third behind Mitt Romney and John McCain, getting 21 percent of the almost 9,800 votes case.
Bismarck Republicans also heard from candidates running for governor, U.S. House, Senate and for several state departments prior to Paul's speech. Republicans from districts 7, 30, 32, 35 and 47 held their district nominating conventions Monday evening following the speeches.
Diane Larson was nominated for the District 30 House seat held by Rep. Dave Weiler, R-Bismarck, who chose not to run for re-election. Incumbent District 30 Rep. Mike Nathe, R-Bismarck, and Sen. Ron Carlisle, R-Bismarck, were also nominated.
In the new District 7, Nicole Poolman defeated District 8 Rep. Dwight Wrangham, R-Bismarck, for the District 7 Senate nomination. Jason Dockter and Dr. Rick Becker were nominated for the two District 7 House seats, beating out Marty Presler.
In District 32, all three incumbent Republicans were nominated: Sen. Dick Dever, Rep. Mark Dosch and Rep. Lisa Meier.
The Associated Press contributed to this story. Reach Nick Smith at 250-8255 or 223-8482 or at nick.smith@bismarcktribune.com.Read more: http://bismarcktribune.com/news/state-and-regional/ron-paul-tours-north-dakota/article_f9f7e2a2-5c49-11e1-8b58-0019bb2963f4.html#ixzz1n5YHrld3

NOVEMBER SELECTION

As Americans mull over which chad to punch on that first Tuesday of November this leap year, a real candidate runs for office. Forget the GOP man and his sidekick, hockey mom, who has more experience blowing away polar bears than sitting in Congress (none of the latter to be precise); forget the Obama Hussein donkey candidate, who has at least some experience in DC, and forget the other candidates, especially Ralph. Go for the GREEN.
Cynthia McKinney, with whom I was privileged to spend a week with in London, is a matronly woman with a real sense of what is going on. It was she who asked Rumsfeld about the missing $2.3 trillion...and since that day, she has been made an enemy of, blacked out by the press whores who whitewash the theft that it so rife in Washington.
We can look forward to a US President who is not scamming money, who is not (like 40,41 & 43) the subject of paedophile investigations, who is not a Skull & Bones member, who is not into big business, but who is a real statesman, and has a real agenda.
Even if your vote does not get her in, it sends a message, and that needs to be heard. If the GREENS get 5% of the vote it will mean a serious victory for the party. The change from Nader, a man who never served in public office, to a person who has spent about 20 years in office, was a good move for the party and means that they can be taken a lot more seriously. McKinney's tour in London showed she has real diplomatic and speaking skills. She thrilled the audience at Friends House, the historic venue in North London, and held court well in enemy territory, such as the James Whale show (a particularly unpleasant UK shock jock who has recently had his radio licence revoked by the communications authorities). She also spoke at the Green Party UK festival in Brockwell Park and held a conference at the Friends of the Earth HQ. The people who met her, from Tony Juniper of FoE, to Mark Anslow of the Ecologist to Baroness Jenny Tonge were well impressed with her.
Her stance on the treatment of US soldiers is also a very strong point, she is the only candidate to take a stance on the DU issue. Presciently, she asserts that the people who got us into this mess, referring to Iraq, cannot be trusted to take us out. Or to take care of the soldier who they messed up with DU by giving lucrative contracts to companies that use this nuclear waste product. They make the money, our boys pay the price. That's how it works, but McKinney is vocal about changing this - and her record reflects this - look at this issue in the 109th Congress and see how she stood out from the crowd and stood up for those in uniform. The others betrayed the military on this - look at their voting records. So voting for those who vote against proper treatment of the soldiers is, it could be argued, a step away from treason. A strong military is essential, and we are currently looking at a decline in morale and enlistment. For those who care about this issue, McKinney is the candidate.
And of course, for those who want to see America growing hemp, McKinney is the candidate. She would help the likes of Dave Monson in North Dakota to get his legal rights, which his fellow GOP members have failed to do.
But, sadly, we may get Obama or McCain. I would vote for neither. I fear for America's future if they get in.
For more information on Cynthia, check out her site, www.allthingscynthiamckinney.com or click flags to see previous posts on this blog.

LOMPOC REPORT

Over the years I have gained the reputation of being a scourge on the Fourth Estate. Just ask Lucy Siegle of the Observer, I have indeed made a few enemies. Not that I mind. For many in that profession have betrayed it, and newspapers today are awash with government planted disinfo, out-and-out lies, page 3 girls with small brains but large mammaries, and other assorted clutter. Once in a while though someone comes to light who really shines, and today I pay respects to Joe White of the Lompoc Record. He wrote a story on hemp that I would have liked to have written. He addresses the issue of hemp and THC and basically calls for people to grow up. He uses grapes and wine as a metaphor, fitting for a US journalist as wine was once outlawed there, just before they outlawed hemp.

Lompoc is a little town off 101 near Santa Barbara. It is a farming community known to some extent for its viniculture, and White addresses his agrarian readers with facts about hemp - he does not waste time with stupid jokes about getting high and other nonsense. It is the federal government which is wasting time - and money - on such nonsense, and White takes them to task. $500 billion is the figure he gives as the sum spent on the 'War on Drugs'. He notes that 40,000 people are in jail presently for marijuana, which just happens to be the population of Lompoc.

White's state has twice passed pro-hemp laws, but the actor in the Governer's Mansion just vetoes them. Other states are in similar situations, he cites North Dakota, Kentucky, Vermont and Oregon. In North Carolina, both senators, one GOP the other Democrat, were in support of hemp. Any wonder that all these states have lots of farming? In fact Kentucky was the hemp basket of America in the 19th century. It is now the tobacco basket.

White cites the fact Europe and Canada allow hemp and hemp farmers in both are making money. He talks about the subject objectively, he does not at all come off as a hippy activist. He is talking more along the line of Adam Smith, the economist who asserted that the agriculture of a nation was its real wealth.

But what America is experiencing is real poverty, as White notes there is a recession in his town, and teachers are being laid off. If they are about to lose their livelihoods in part due Schwarzenegger at all, then maybe it is time to say hasta la vista and get an intelligent person in that and other offices.

Thanks to White and other responsible journalists, they may end up cultivating hemp, which was grown all over the US by the Founding Father no less. And talking about responsible journalists, the Ecologist has been in touch with me about an upcoming feature on hemp, later this summer or fall.

2B OR NOT 2B

Much speculation exists as to why bees are dying off in Colony Collapse Disorder, and we have covered a good amount of that here. Mobile phone masts and verroa mites are two suspects, but now there is a hypothesis that ethonal, or rather the byproducts of ethanol, are killing the bees. Killer ethanol. However, there may be a bias to this theory, in that there certainly are interests which desire to keep us away from any alternative energy. On the other hand, we need to look at this and give an answer either way.

Eric Pollitt of Global Hemp has been keeping me informed about the ethanol and corn use debate, his part of the world is Illinois and they know a thing or two about corn there, which is a ubiquitous crop, along with soy. The two monopolistic agrobusinesses can be quite selfishly motivated, we need to grow other crops just to keep a balance. And if we are to produce ethanol, having of course answered the question about its effects on the hymonoptera - fancy word for bees and their congeners, we need to look at whether corn is the most appropriate crop to grow for it. At present hemp is still illegal in Illinois, even though it was once prevalent there. The latest on the legal status of hemp is that in Vermont, the state legistaure voted overwhelmingly in favour of cultivation, and the governor sensibly let this pass into law. However, there is the federal government to deal with next, and we can see what happens by looking at the recent case in North Dakota where the top Republican in the state legislature is suing the feds over their right to cultivate what the Fouding Fathers grew.

Hopefully the states will win, and the feds will buzz off.

NEWS FROM THE HIA

The press team at HIA and VoteHemp have been busy in the US. From Vermont, good news comes in the form of the passage of H267, the hemp bill which was passed 126-9. In Wisconsin, however, AB 146 is having a hard time getting a floor voice, despite a vote of 9-0 last year to recommend passage. The bill's sponsor, Rep. Gene Hahn, is on his last term. HIA suggests that people get on to this and send a postcard to Assembly Speaker Michael Huebsch and Assembly Majority Leader Jeff Fitzgerald. The struggle continues in North Dakota, where Dave Monson (himself a politician, GOP) has filed an appeal to the US Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit in regards to their case against the DEA, which was dismissed in District Court last November.
On more trendy notes, the fashionistas are well into hemp in New York, where Donatella Versace, Behnaz Sarapfour, Ralph Lauren, Donna Karan Intl., Isabel Toledo and Doo.Ri showed off their hempen apparel at Gotham Hall. A display at Barney's Madison Avenue store will be on display from 1-12 Feb and will include hemp creations.
Also from the US, Vote4Hemp has just done an interview with me, and listeners can tune in at www.time4hemp.com In the future, expect to catch an interview with Green Party favourite Cynthia McKinney!

IS MY SHIRT STILL ILLEGAL?

In some countries, hemp is still an outlaw. Legalisation campaigns are going on where needed, including the US. North Dakota farmers received a boost of hope this week as the DEA is allowing the ND State University to grow it, although the paperwork is still not finalised. Click here for full story.

Even where it has been legal, there are problems. In Sweden, where it has been legal since1993, the police haev been confiscating the crop of farmer Ulf Hammarsten until this very year. He had to go to the EU courts to get his rights. In addition to his rights, he has received an environmental prize by Laholm officials. For full story click here.

Pictured above is a hemp shop in Canada, where hemp was legalised in 1996.

MEDICAL CANNABIS TO GROW

IN HIGHLANDS

Terry Smith in the Idaho Mountain Express writes yesterday that the intiative to approve the use of medical marijuana has been approved in Hailey by a vote of 687-581, and also an industrial hemp measure by 683-565.

But before they dig up the spuds and plant cannabis, there is the federal government to deal with - and they ride rougshod over states' rights, as they well know in North Dakota (see related posts on this site).

AMERICA WANTS TO GROW ITS OWN

In the land of the free it used to be a crime not to grow hemp. If that law is still on the books, then there's going to be some very overcrowded prisons. Hands up!

But before anyone lays down the law, we have to know what it is, and that is a bit of a grey area for many. Technically, for instance, North Dakotans can grow hemp, as Sarah Terry-Cobo points out in her article of 24 September in the Inside Bay Area e-newsletter. However, farmers there are suing the federal government to be able to exercise this right.

The subject of her piece is CaliforniaBill AB 684 which has passed in the state senate, but awaits ratification or veto by an Austrian governor. As this governor has already vetoed one such bill, it is not expected that he will sign this new one.

In another western state, similar debate rages. Terry Smith of the Idaho Mountain Express notes of a bill which goes for referendum in Hailey, Idaho on 6 November. This initiative is in with others related to marijuana, which Smith completey mixes up in his article by saying that hemp is a "marijuana byproduct."

Again, the press gets this issue so wrong, there ought to be a law against sloppy journalism. Hemp was once the world's most traded commodity, and it was grown by the US government. It was no byproduct, and marijuana had nothing to do with it. It was actually misinformed journalists employed by Hearst who made 'marijuana' a well known word, after mixing it up with hemp and destroying a livelihood for Americans. Let's hope that today's journalists can do better, and that the Austrian will not yet again veto what is America's heritage.

NO FREEDOM FOR AMERICA

As part of the Fourth Reich's continued programme of suppression of liberty in the US, hemp is off limits. The insurgency continues with patriots such as Dave Monson launching a law suit against the DEA for denying North Dakotans the rigth to grow hemp, but just this month the Bush government tried to ignore the suit, and went so far as to request a federal judge to throw it out. A motion filed by US attorney Drew Wright asserts that DEA policies can only be reviewed by federal appeal courts, and they do not differentiate between hemp and marijuana. These courts follow the lead of the Hearst press, which supported Hitler argued against hemp.

Ironically, an article in the San Francisco Chronicle, which is run by the Hearst family to this day, discussed AB684, the bill in the California Senate which is pro-hemp, but only for four northern counties (see recent posts for more details). Haley Davies is the reporter, and her email is hdavies@sfchronicle.com, for those of you wishing to send her any information for future articles on hemp.

Back in North Dakota Dave Monson got support from North Dakota State Universtity, which sent a letter to the DEA exhorting them to stop their nonsense. NDSU has also applied for a permit to grow hemp, and they have been waiting for permission since 1999.

Will the DEA crush the partiotic insurgents? Or will America win back its right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness? Stay tuned on this blogspot for continuous updates.

HEMP IN NEW YORK

This month hemp has been making news in New York City. After Anya Hindmarch sold her bags to lots of people lined up outside of Whole Foods, a hemp bag was seen on the shoulders of some women in New York, and it casually stated: "REAL ECO BAGS ARE MADE FROM HEMP". Having the real thing, none of these ladies wasted any time on the line for the Anya bag. Ironically, people buying the Anya bag, supposedly to to something green, were asking the shop for plastic bags to put them in. Then they went and sold them on Ebay. A limited edition of how many million? The REAL ECO BAG was made in an edition of less than 200, and sold exclusively to Ecologist and Positive News readers. John Vidal, environment editor of the Guardian, suggested (jokingly) we send one to Posh, but sorry ma'am, we ran out. Next time we do a run we'll keep you in mind...

On Saturday, 21 July, the New York Times put a story on the front page about the struggle for hemp in North Dakota. NORML posted it on their site in its entirety, save for the photo, click here to view. It is a well written piece, the author, Monica Davey, obviously took the time to get the facts. Technical details and irony give her piece the character of a good front page piece, and I would hope that more pieces like this appear in the press.

The bag on the shoulder of this young woman was made from Romanian hemp, 100% organic, and manufactured in the UK by Bobby Pugh of The Hemp Shop. It and similar bags will be carried by Minawear in the US. Hopefully, however, the hemp can be made in the USA and grown in the USA. American farmers are getting sick of the DEA and its red tape, and some of them, like Dave Monson, are taking the government to court.

Later next month, on 21-23 August, there will be a public event in support of hemp called Lakota Hemp Days, click here to be taken to site. While that event promises to much of a young, music driven, 'leftie' event, Dave Monson and other hemp activists are very much 'right-wingers'. What we are seeing is that hemp rises above politics, and has broad support. Americans really want a profitable crop that does not require pesticides, and as hemp can be used for food, paper, textiles, medicine and energy, there is great demand for it.

HEMP AND THE LAW

For thousands of years everyone grew hemp, and the law was on the side of the hemp farmers. Then in 1937 a law was dishonestly created which made hemp farmers criminals. In 1942 they were again on the right side of the law as the US government encouraged them to grow hemp, making a film titled Hemp for Victory to rally support. The war over, the same farmers were again criminals. Soon after 1945, Nazi criminals were welcomed in the US and given honours as they began to operate paedophile rings and mind control games. Maybe law enforcement was too busy to chase them down as they spent lots of time on eradicating wild hemp.

Today hemp is again a focus of legal actions. In the UK, the Rural Payments Agency will be demanding that all hemp seed imported into the UK be radiated. But what is the point, as anyone can legally buy all the skunk seeds one wants? Obviously, many people would rather not have their food nuked, but many people were not consulted. So far, every hemp business I've talked to has not been consulted, and this law could put some of them out of business. In the long run it could increase UK acreage of hemp, as hemp seed oil manufacturers will be keen to buy local hemp (or just lie and not tell their customers they are eating nuked food). The British Isles Hemp & Natural Fibres Industries Association was definitely not consulted on this one, though it may be that RPA consulted some of the large firms who would stand to benefit if this law put their competitors under stress. One would hope that a government agency would consult as many of the hemp businesses as possible, or at least the Industries Association. We will be following up with the RPA. Their number is o845 603 7777. Their email is: enquiries@rpa.gsi.gov.uk.

In the US legal wrangling will take place when two citizens, also not consulted by their government, go to court. David Monson and Wayne Hauge of North Dakota have filed civil action 4:07-CV-042, a Complaint for Declaratory Judgment, naming the DEA and the US Dept. of Justice as plaintiffs. Interestingly enough, Monson is House Majority leader for the Republican Party in his state. He has been persistant and may just be the David that fells the Goliath in the USA.

MAY IN REVIEW

Hemp is in the air, and in the field, but flowers will have to wait a month or so. As the hemp grows in the field, each day a little bit, so does the movement. Lots of little things to do last month, such as finishing up Bulletin # 1 of the British Isles Hemp & Natural Fibres Industries Association: Hemp as a Replacement Crop for Heroin in Afghanistan. Copies of this 24 page report are available from The Hemp Shop in the UK.

Some dark forces in this world might not like this, as they have, after invading Afghanistan, made poppies to prosper. And guess what, in Iraq, the rice fields are being plowed up and replaced with poppy fields. Is this the progress Bush was talking about? No wonder he wants to stay there forever. US troops are free guards, courtesy of the US taxpayer. One such taxpayer lost her son in Iraq, and when Bush handed her the medal, he joked about it and told her not to sell it on Ebay. Where is the dignity?

And where is the hemp? He finally got talking about ethanol, and it seemed too good to be true. Turns out it was, the idiots used up corn and drove the corn prices sky high so the Mexicans were protesting at his visit. Henry Ford used hemp and farm wastes, but I guess the modern environmentalist does not take the time to read such details, they just jump out there with George Bush and George Monbiot, and when it all fails, they tell us biofuels don't work. Try doing what has been proven effective and you just might be surprised.

Another proven use of hemp to which it has not been put by the wanna-be environmentalists is in the production of shopping bags. Anya Hindmarch came out with her bags in April and was bagged by the national press, and in May we worked on the hemp bag which is featured on this site. Our protests were mentioned in the May issue of The Ecologist, which is doing a reader offer in the July/August issue. We plan some fun with this, as it would really take the mick to carry this bag around all the posh spots of London, and maybe a bit outside the US Embassy.

From the US Dave Olson called to say he was coming over, which means we will be able to give him a hemp bag to take back. Doug Yurchey wrote a sequel to his famous piece on the real reason hemp is illegal, taking a swipe at Judge Judy and the idiot brigade which is keeping hemp out of reach for Americans. So either you buy your petrol from the Middle East or you use up all your corn and the price of corn flakes goes up.

On a sad note, it does not look like Dave Monson of North Dakota got his permits in time to sow hemp, as George Washington commanded. The good ol' DEA dragged its feet and efforts on the part of the US taxpayer were wasted. Let's hope to reverse this sad state of affairs and have hemp in the ground in the US this time next year.

MORE ON HEMP IN NORTH DAKOTA

The saga of North Dakota vs. the DEA continues, with Roger Johnson, the state Agriculture Commissioner in Bismarck, sending a letter to DEA adminstrator Karen Tandy. For those of you not familiar with the US, there is an issue between states' rights and the federal government, which often results in tension and nothing getting done. In this case, it sounds as if North Dakota is getting tired of the folks in DC, and Johnson is prodding them not to waste time. Two farmers in that state, David Monson (also the House Majority leader, a Republican from Osnabrock) and Wayne Hauge from Ray, already have the permits, and want to plant hemp this year. Johnson states that granting registration after the planting season is tantamount to denying registration: "...we believe there is no reason why DEA cannot issue a decision in time for this year's planting," he wrote in his letter.

He also asserts that the DEA is not free to simpy ignore the applications. Right he is, but does he know who he is talking to? To be continued...

ELDERLY AMERICANS CALL GOVERNMENT SILLY

This blog has been following the progress of the hemp movement around the world, and perhaps the most interesting one is about North Dakota. There the people involved are not the usual environmental activists; they have no interest in pot; none are hippies. One, David Monson, is the ND House Majority speaker - his party is none other than the GOP. Many others are mainstream farmers, and they are pushing for hemp bacause it makes a good crop, and brings in cash. Two of them, an elderly couple from Stark County, George and Earlene Frank, asserted that the fears on the part of law enforcement officials were "silly".

Right on. Listen to your elders! It's time we got over the Hearst induced hysteria of the '30s and put hemp back in the farm, like it always was in America. Young whippersnappers cooked up a bunch of lies about hemp and got it published in the Hearst press, and in so doing, they have ripped America off. Interestingly, I was just reading that in the Nuremberg trials, they not only hung soldiers and top Nazis, but a few journalists as well, as they realised the dishonest reporting was much a part of the war. Earlier this week I met an Italian journlist who told me there is a bar for the press in her country, so they eliminate some of the problem. That is a great idea! Too often I open the paper here and read utter nonsense, sometimes put out by icons like George Monbiot, and I wonder if they are descendants of the Hearst and his Nazi friends. Incidentally, hemp makes a good rope, the hangman's noose was called in former times the "hemp horse". It's time a few people took a ride and we got on with farming this crop.

HEMP LEGISLATION IN NORTH DAKOTA

Years ago, Sesame Street brought us the famous detective, Fargo North, who hung out his shingle as a 'decoder'. Every case brought to him he was able to solve, and most of the young viewers were able to do the same. After a certain age I graduated to Sherl0ck Holmes. But it appears some people have never left Sesame Street, and they are still unable to distinguish industrial hemp from marijuana. Therefore there is a discussion on the calendar in Bismarck, North Dakota, for Thursday, 8 February, to discuss a "concurrent resolution urging Congress to direct the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency to differentiate between industrial hemp and marijuana." It is tagged as HCR 3042.

By the way, some of the federal agencies in the US need to be reminded that they are working for the taxpayer; they are not, at least not yet, secret fascist police agencies. Last month I spent time on the phone politely explaining this to Homeland Security, as they had gathered some bits of slander against a law-abiding US citizen who works as a nurse the Empire State. They got mad and called her, telling her that I called; they then sent her a note to tell her the case was being dropped, but had nothing to do with me calling. As stupid as the case was, one would hope it did not take my call, politely offering to get them some free attention in the NY Times and the NY Sun, to get them to wake up. Maybe they took it to Fargo North, who, as we all know, lives on Sesame Street. Soon, however, they may be growing hemp on that street, which we all know is in North Dakota.

(Related blogs were posted on this site on 10 June, 2006; 24 October, 2006; 28 December, 2006; and 22 January, 2007)